to be bred in the bottom of the Sea like to a thick mud A. The best that is in the World comes from the Island Mauritius And is commonly found after a Storm The Hogs can smell it at a great distance who run like mad to it and devour it commonly before the people come to it It is held to be a Zeequal viscosity which being dried by the Sun turns to such a Consistence as is dayly seen Myavines father Isaac Vigny a Frenchman in Oleron hath been a great Traveller in his time and he told me he sailed once in his youth through so many of these Zeequalen as would have loaded ten thousand Ships the like having been never seen his Curiosity did drive him to take up some of those which being dried in the Sun were perceived to be the best Ambergreece in the World I have seen one piece which he kept for a Memento and another piece he sold for 1300 l. Sterling This being discovered they set sail to the same place where these Zeequelen appeared and crusing there to and fro for the space of six weeks but could not perceive any more Where this place is scituated I do not know but Monsieur Gentillot a French Captain in Holland can tell you Q. 24. To enquire of the Divers for Pearls staying long under water whether they do it by the assistance of anything they carry with them or by long and often use get a trick of holding their breath so long at the Isle of Baharen neer Ormus A What they do at Baharen is unknown to me but since we have had Tute Corein in Ceylon where very good Pearls grow I hear the Divers use no Artifice The manner is thus at a set time of the year Merchants come from all parts as likewise Divers with their Boats each Boat hath a certain quantity of square Stones upon which Stones the Divers goe down and give a token to their Companions when they think it time to be hal'd up each Stone payes tribute to the Company The Oyster or Shell-fish is not immediately open'd but laid on heaps or in holes at the Sea-side When the Diving time is ended the Merchants come and buy these heaps according as they can agree not knowing whether they shall get any thing or no. So that this is a meer Lottery This Pearl-fishing is dangerous being the Divers commonly make their Will and take leave of their Friends before they tread the Stone to go down Q. 25. Whether Cinnamon when first gathered hath no tast at all but acquires its taste and strength by fifteen dayes sunning And whether the Bark be gathered every two years in the Isle of Ceylon A. The Cinnamon Tree as it groweth is so fragrant that it may be smelt a great way off before it be seen And hath even then a most Excellent taste so that by Sunning it looseth rather than acquires any taste or force the Tree being pill'd is cut down to the root but the young Sprigs after a year or two give the best and finest Cinnamon Q. 26. To learn if it may be what Art the Master-workmen of Pegu have to add to the colour of their Rubies A. Not answered Q. 27. To inquire after and get if possible some of the Bones of the Fish called Caballa which are so powerful in stopping blood A. 'T is done and they shall follow with the Dutch Ships Q. 28. Whether at Hermita a Town in Ethiopia there are Tortoises so big that Men may ride upon them A. It is reported that there be extraordinary great ones there I have seen some Sea-Tortoises here of four foot broad in oval form very low leg'd but of that strength that a man may stand on one The manner of catching them is to turn them with a Fork upon their backs Q. 29. Whether there be a Tree in Mexico that yields Water Wine Vinegar Oyl Milk Honey Wax Thread and Needles A. The Cokos Trees yields all this and more the Nut while it is green hath very good Water in it the Flower being cut drops out great quantity of liquor called Sury or Taywack which drank fresh hath the force and almost the taste of Wine grown sowr is very good Vinegar and distilled makes very good Brandy or Areck The Nut grated and mingled with water tasteth like Milk pressed yields very good Oyl Bees swarm in these Trees as well as in other Thread Needles are made of the leaves and tough twigs Nay to add something to this description in Amboina they make Bread of the body of the Tree the leaves serve to thatch houses and likewise sails for their Boats Q. 30. Whether about Java there be Oysters of that vast bigness as to weigh three hundred weight A. I have seen a Shell-fish but nothing like an Oyster of such a bigness the Fish being salted and kept in pickle afterwards boyled tasteth like Brawn in England and is of an horney substance Q. 31. Whether neer Malacca there be found in the Gall of certain Swine a Stone esteemed incomparably above Bezoar A. In that Country but very seldome there grows a Stone in the Stomack of a Porkapine called Pedro Porco of whose virtue there are large descriptions and the Hollanders are now so fond that I have seen 400. Dollars of â— given for one no bigger than a Pidgeons Egg There is sophistication as well in that as Bezoar Musk c. and every day new falshood so that I cannot well set down here any rules but must be judged by experience A false one I send you which doth imitate very near virtue the true one but is a great deal bigger and of another colour As for the Observations desired of the Islands Saint Helena and Ascension they may be better made by the English East-India men which commonly touch at both places but the Hollander never or very seldome Q. 32. Whether it be winter at the East-side of the Mountain Gates which comes from the North to Cape Comoryn whilst it is summer on the West-side and Vice versa A. Not only there but likewise on the Island of Zeylon Q. 33. In what Country Lignum Alloes is found whether it be the Wood of a Tree or the Root of a Tree How to know the best of the Kind A. Lignum Alloes Lignum Paradisi Calamba are Synonyma the same And the same Wood comes most from Cambodia and Siam but they say it it brought by the people of Lawlan a Country about Cambodia whence Musk and Benzoin and most Aromada come it is easily distinguished from other Wood by its strong scent and richness of Balm in it which appears in its blackness it is of great Value and hard to be gotten here The rest of the Queries are not answered because the time is short since I received them and especially because I cannot meet with any one that can satisfie me and being unsatisfied my self I cannot nor will obtrude any thing upon you which may hereafter prove
Learning has whole Armies at command Quarter'd about in every Land A better Troop she ne're together drew Methinks like Gideon's little Band God with Design has pickt out you To do these noble Wonders by a Few When the whole Host he saw They are said he Too many to O'recome for Me And now he chuses out his Men Much in the way that he did then Not those many whom he found Idely extended on the ground To drink with their dejected head The Stream just so as by their Mouths it fled No but those Few who took the Waters up And made of their laborious Hands the Cup. VII Thus you prepar'd and in the glorious Fight Their wondrous pattern too you take Their old and empty Pitchers first they brake And with their Hands then lifted up the Light Iö Sound too the Trumpets here Already your victorious Lights appear New Scenes of Heven already we espy And Crowds of golden Worlds on high Which from the spacious Plains of Earth and Sea Could never yet discover'd be By Sailers or Chaldaeans watchful Eye Natures great Works no distance can obscure No smalness her near Objects can secure Y' have taught the curious Sight to press Into the privatest recess Of her imperceptible Littleness She with much stranger Art than his who put All th' Iliads in a Nut The numerous work of Life does into Atomes shut Y' have learn'd to Read her smallest Hand And well begun her deepest Sense to Vnderstand VIII Mischief and tru Dishonour fall on those Who would to laughter or to scorn expose So Virtuous and so Noble a Design So Human for its Vse for Knowledge so Divine The things which these proud men despise and call Impertinent and vain and small Those smallest things of Nature let me know Rather than all their greatest Actions Doe Whoever would Deposed Truth advance Into the Throne usurp'd from it Must feel at first the Blows of Ignorance And the sharp Points of Envious Wit So when by various turns of the Celestial Dance In many thousand years A Star so long unknown appears Though Heven it self more beauteous by it grow It troubles and alarms the World below Does to the Wise a Star to Fools a Meteor show IX With Courage and Success you the bold work begin Your Cradle has not Idle bin None e're but Hercules and you could be At five years Age worthy a History And nere did Fortune better yet Th' Historian to the Story fit As you from all Old Errors free And purge the Body of Philosophy So from all Modern Folies He Has vindicated Eloquence and Wit His candid Stile like a clean Stream does slide And his bright Fancy all the way Does like the Sun-shine in it play It does like Thames the best of Rivers glide Where the God does not rudely overturn But gently pour the Crystal Vrn And with judicious hand does the whole Current guide T' has all the Beauties Nature can impart And all the comely Dress without the paint of Art A. COWLEY AN Advertisement to the Reader THe Reader is intreated to take notice That much of this Discours was Written and Printed above two years before the rest For this cause in the First and Second Books he may chance to find some Expressions that by reason of the difference of time may seem not well to agree with the last But those having pass'd the Press so long ago were out of my power of changing them and therefore I will refer it to his kindness to do it for me I must also acquaint him That in the Title of my Book I have taken a liberty which may be liable to exception I have call'd it a History of the Royal Society whereas the First Part wholly Treats of the state of the Ancient Philosophy and the Third chiefly contains a Defence and Recommendation of Experimental Knowledge in General So that it is only the Second Book that peculiarly describes their Vndertaking But for my excuse I may allege the Example of many of the Ancients who have often from the Principal Part of their Works given Title to all the rest In their imitation though this Book does Treat of many Subjects that are not Historical yet I have presum'd to name the whole a History because that was the main end of my Design The Style perhaps in which it is written is larger and more contentious than becomes that purity and shortness which are the chief beauties of Historical Writings But the blame of this ought not so much to be laid upon me as upon the Detractors of so noble an Institution For their Objections and Cavils against it did make it necessary for me to write of it not altogether in the way of a plain History but somtimes of an Apology THE HISTORY OF THE Institution Design and Progress OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON For the Advancement of Experimental Philosophy The FIRST PART I Shall here present to the World an Account of the First Institution of the Royal Society and of the Progress which they have already made in hope that this Learned and Inquisitive Age will either think their Indeavours worthy of its Assistance or else will be thereby provok'd to attempt some greater Enterprise if any such can be found out for the Benefit of humane life by the Advancement of Real Knowledge Perhaps this Task which I have propos'd to my self will incurr the Censure of many Judicious Men who may think it an over-hasty and presumptuous Attempt and may object to me that the History of an Assembly which begins with so great expectations ought not to have been made publique so soon till We could have produced very many considerable Experiments which they had try'd and so have given undenyable Proofs of the usefulness of their undertaking In answer to this I can plead for my self that what I am here to say will be far from preventing the labours of others in adorning so worthy a Subject and is premis'd upon no other account then as the noblest Buidings are first wont to be represented in a few Shadows or small Models which are not intended to be equal to the Chief Structure it self but onely to shew in little by what Materials with what Charge and by how many Hands that is afterwards to be rais'd Although therefore I come to the performance of this work with much less deliberation and ability then the weightiness of it requires yet I trust that the Greatness of the Design it self on which I am to speak and the zeal which I have for the Honour of our Nation which have been the chief reasons that have mov'd me to this confidence of writing will serve to make something for my Excuse For what greater matter can any man desire about which to employ his thoughts then the Beginnings of an Illustrious Company which has already laid such excellent Foundations of so much good to Mankind Or what can be more delightful for an Englishman to consider then
like adjacent Islands above fifty foot in the diameter Q. 15. What kind of fruit is that in Jucca which grows immediately out of the Trees body and is said to breed the Plague if eaten immoderately A. It is a fruit much like to Durion which groweth in the same manner hath a faint smell and sweet waterish taste for my part I do not affect them The Plague is a Disease unknown amongst the Indians but this fruit as most others do immoderately eaten causes a Dirthea which easily degenerates to a Tenasmus by us called Peirsing a dangerous Sickness and worse than the Plague Q. 16. What Poyson is it the King of Macassar in Colebees is said to have particular to himself which not only kills a man immediately that hath received the slightest Wound by a Dart dipt therein but also within half an hours time make the flesh touched with it so rotten that it will fall like Snivel from the Bones and whose poysonous Steam will soon fly up to a Wound made with an unpoysoned Dart if the Blood be only in the slightest manner touch'd with a Dart infected with the Poyson What certainty there is of this Relation A. That there is such a Poyson in this Kings possession is most certain but what it is no Christian hitherto ever knew right By the Government of Arnold De Flamminge Van Outshorn divers have been tortured yea killed Some say it is the Gall of a Venemous Fish Others say it is a Tree which is so Venemous that those who are condemned to die fetch the Poyson but not one of an hundred scape death the Roots of this Tree are held an Antidote against the Poyson but our People when we had War with Macassar found no Antidote like to their own or others Excrements as soon as they felt themselves wounded instantly took a dose of this same which presently provoked to vomit and so by repulsion as I perceive and sweat freed the Noble parts from further Infection That a Wound should be infected by this Poyson though inflicted by an impoysoned Weapon is not strange to those who study Sympathy And set belief in that much renowned Sympathetical Powder of Sir Kenelme Digby Yet such Effects of the Macassars Arts are unknown to us Q. 17. Whether in Pegu and other places in the East-Indies they use a Poyson that kills by smelling and yet the Poyson smell is hardly perceived To this no Answer was return'd Q. 18. Whether Camphire comes from Trees What kind of Trees they are in Borneo that are said to yield much excellent Camphire as that one pound thereof is said to be worth an hundred of that of China and other places A. Camphire comes from Trees of an Excessive bulk as you may see by the Chests which comes from Iappan into Europe made of the same wood of Burneo it comes likewise from Trees which are said to stand in Sandy Ground And drop like a Gum. But of late an Experiment is found in Ceylon that the Root of a Cinnamon Tree yields as good Camphire as either Iappan or China of which I shall send you a pattern being now to be had at present here as also an Oyl extracted from the same Roots which reserves something of the Cinnamon smell but may be the fault of the Distiller Q. 19. Whether some of that rare Wood called Palo d' Aquila and Calamba of an Extraordinary value even in the Country where it groweth as in Siam about San and Patan and in Cochinchina may not be brought over as also some of those strange Nests of Cochinchina made by Birds upon Rocks of a certaine viscous froth of the Sea which Nests grown dry and hard are said to become transparent and when dissolved in Water serves excellently to season all their Meats A. If the Question be made whether these things may be brought over by permission of the Company I answer as first that their Laws forbid the transportation of all whatsoever whether necessary to the conservation of Health or acquisition of Wealth or Rarities c. but if the Querie be concerning the nature and substance of the Wood and Nests they are transportable and can subsist without decaying many years Lignum Aquilae is far inferiour to Calamba though not easie to be discerned the pound of Calamba is worth in Iappan thirty and sometimes forty pounds Sterling the best comes from Cambodia and seems to be the pith of the Tree Aquilae in Iappan it is used as Incence to perfume Cloth and Chambers It is held for a great Cordial and commonly used by that Nation as also the Chineses In Defectione spirituum vitalium as in Paralisi Nervorum laxatione impotentia They rub it with Aqua Cynamoni upon a Stone till the substance of the Wood is mixt sicut pulpa with the Water and so drink it with Wine or what they please The Birds-nests are a great Restorative to Nature and much used by the lecherous Chinaes Q. 20. Whether the Animal call'd Abados or Rhinoceros hath teeth claws flesh blood and skin yea his very dung and water as well as his horns Antidotal And whether the horns of those beasts be better or worse according to the food they live upon A. Their horns teeth claws and blood are esteemed Antidotes and have the same use in the Indian Pharmacopeia as the Therieca hath in ours the flesh I have eaten is very sweet and short some dayes before the Receipt of your Letter I had a young one no bigger than a Spaniel Dog which followed me whereever I went drinking nothing but Buffulo milk lived about three weeks then his teeth began to grow and got a looseness and died 'T is observed that Children especially of European Parents at the breaking out of their teeth are dangerous sick and commonly die of the scouring in these parts His skin I have caused to be dryed and so present it unto you since fate permits not to send him you living such a young one was never seen before The food I believe is all one to this Animal being that they are seldome seen but amongst withered Branches Thistles and Thorns so that the horn is of equal vertue Q. 21. Whether the falsifying of the China Musk is not rather done by mixing Oxen and Cows Livers dried and pulverized with some of the putrified and concrete flesh and blood of the China Musk-cat than by beating together the bare flesh and blood of this Animal c. Not answered Q. 22. Whether there be two sorts of Gumlack one produced from a certain winged Ant the other the Exudation of a Tree The first had in the Islands of Suachan the last in the Kingdome of Martaban A. We know of none but such as drop from Trees and comes from divers places in Siam Cambodia Pegu c. Q. 23. If the best Ambergreece be found in the Islands Socotora and Aniana neer Java To endeavour the getting of more certain knowledge what it is being reported
to warm it although yet the temper of the Air was very calm and moderate But when the Sun was set it began to blow with that violence and grew so cold that taking up our lodging under certain great Stones in the Rocks we were constreined to keep great fires before the mouthes of them all night About four in the morning we began to mount again and being come about a mile up one of the Company fail'd and was able to proceed no further Here began the black Rocks The rest of us pursued our Journey till we came to the Sugar-loaf where we begin to travel again in a white sand being fore-shod with shooes whose single soles are made a finger broader than the upper leather to encounter this difficult and unstable passage being ascended as far as the black Rocks which are all flat lie like a pavement we climbed within a mile of the very top of the Pico and at last we gained the Summit where we found no such smoak as appeared a little below but a continual breathing of a hot and sulphurous Vapour which made our faces extreamly sore In this passage we found no considerable alteration of Air and very little Wind but being at the top it was so impetuous that we had much ado to stand against it whilst we drank the Kings health and fired each of us a peece Here we also brake fast but found our strong-Strong-water had quite lost its force and was become almost insipid whilst our Wine was rather more spirituous and brisque than it was before The top on which we stood being not above a yard broad is the brink of a Pit called the Caldera which we judged to be about a Musquet-shot over and neer fourscore yards deep in shape like a Cone within hollow like a Kettle or Cauldron and all over cover'd with small loose Stones mixt with Sulphur and Sand from amongst which issue divers Spiracles of smoak and heat when stirred with any thing puffs and makes a noise and so offensive that we were almost stifled with the sudden Emanation of Vapours upon the removing of one of these Stones which are so hot as they are not easily to be handled We descended not above four or five yards into the Caldera in regard of its fliding from our feet and the difficulty But some have adventured to the bottom Other observable materials we discover'd none besides a clear sort of Sulphur which looks like Salt upon the Stones From this famous Pico we could ken the Grand Canaria fourteen leagues distant Palma eighteen and Gomera seven leagues which interval of Sea seemed to us not much larger than the River of Thames about London We discerned also the Herro being distant above twenty leagues and so to the outmost limits of the Sea much farther So soon as the Sun appeared the shadow of the Pico seemed to cover not only the whole Island and the Grand Canaries but the Sea to the very Horison where the top of the Sugar-loaf or Pico visibly appeared to turn up and cast its shade into the Air it self at which we were much surprised But the Sun was not far ascended when the Clouds began to rise so fast as intercepted our prospect both of the Sea and the whole Island excepting only the tops of the subjacent Mountains which seem'd to pierce them through Whether these Clouds do ever surmount the Pico we cannot say but to such as are far beneath they sometimes seem to hang above it or rather wrap themselves about it as constantly when the North-west Wind blows this they call the Cappe and is a certain prognostick of ensuing Storms One of our company who made this journey again two years after arriving at the top of the Pico before day and creeping under a great Stone to shrowd himself from the cold Air after a little space found himself all wet and perceived it to come from a perpetual trickling of water from the Rocks above him Many excellent and very exuberant Springs we found issuing from the tops of most of the other Mountains gushing out in great Spouts almost as far as the huge Pine tree which we mention'd Having stay'd some time upon the top we all descended by the Sandy way till we came to the foot of the Sugar-loaf which being steep even to almost a perpendicular we soon passed And here we met a Cave of about ten yards deep and fifteen broad being in shape like an Oven or Cupola having a hole at the top which is neer eight yards over by this we descended by a Rope which our Servants held at the top whilst the other end being fastned about our middles we swing our selves till being over a Bank of Snow we slide down and light upon it We were forced to swing thus in the descent because in the middle of the bottom of this Cave opposite to the overture at the top is a round Pit of water resembling a Well the surface whereof is about a yard lower than the Snow but as wide as the mouth at top and is about six fathom deep We suppose this Water not a Spring but dissolved Snow blown in or Water trickling through the Rocks About the sides of the Grot for some height there is Ice and Icicles hanging down to the Snow But being quickly weary of this excessive cold place and drawn up again we continued our descent from the Mountains by the same passages we went up the day before and so about five in the evening arrived at Oratava from whence we set forth our Faces so red and sore that to cool them we were forced to wash and bathe them in Whites of Eggs c. The whole height of the Pico in perpendicular is vulgarly esteem'd to be two miles and a half No Trees Herbs or Shrubs in all the passage but Pines and amongst the whiter Sands a kind of Broom being a bushy Plant and at the side where we lay all night a kind of Cordon which hath Stems of eight foot high the Trunk near half a foot thick every Stem growing in four squares and emerging from the ground like Tuffets of Rushes upon the edges of these Stems grow very small red Buttons or Berries which being squeezed produc'd a poysonous Milk which lighting upon any part of a Horse or other Beast fetches off the hair from the skin immediately of the dead part of this we made our fires all night This Plant is also universally spread over the Island and is perhaps a kind of Euphorbium Of the Island Tenariffe it self this account was given by a Judicious and Inquisitive Man who liv'd twenty years in it as a Physician and Merchant His opinion is that the whole Island being a ground mightily impregnated with Brimstone did in former times take fire and blow up all or near upon all at the same time and that many Mountains of huge Stones calcin'd and burnt which appear every where about the Island especially in the Southwest
for Astronomical Observations or taking Angles at Land A new Instrument for taking Angles by reflection by which means the Eye at the same time sees the two Objects both as touching in the same point though distant almost to a Semicircle which is of great use for making exact Observations at Sea A new kind of Back-staff for taking the Suns altitude by the Shadow and Horizon which is so contriv'd that though the shadow be at three foot distance or as much more as is desir'd yet there shall not be the least Penumbra and the Shadow may be easily distinguish'd to the fourth part of a minute A Hoop of all the fix'd Stars in the Zodiac for the speedy finding the Position of the Ecliptic and for knowing the extent of the Constellations A Copernican Sphere representing the whirling Motion of the Sun and the Motion of the several Planets A great many new wayes of making Instruments for keeping time very exactly both with Pendulums and without them whereby the intervals of time may be measur'd both on the Land and Sea A universal Standard or measure of Magnitudes by the help of a Pendulum never before attempted A new kind of Pendulum Clock wherein the Pendulum moves circularly going with the most simple and natural motion moving very equally and making no kind of noise A Pendulum Clock shewing the aequation of Time Three new wayes of Pendulums for Clocks and several wayes of applying the motion of the Watch-work to them Several new kinds of Pendulum Watches for the Pocket wherein the motion is regulated by Springs or Weights or Loadstones or Flies moving very exactly regular Several sorts of Instruments for compressing and rarefying the Air A Wheel-Barometer and other Instruments for finding the pressure of the Air and serving to predict the changes of the Weather A new kind of Scales for examining the gravity of Bodies in all places to see whether the attraction of the Earth be not greater in some parts of the Earth than in others and whether it do not decrease at farther distances from the surface of the Earth either upwards into the Air or downwards under the Earth A very exact pair of Scales for trying a great number of Magnetical Experiments Several very accurate Beams for trying many Statical Experiments and for finding the most exact gravity of several kinds of Bodies A great number of Magnetical Instruments for making Experiments about Loadstones Several new kinds of Levels for finding the true Horizon where by one of not above a foot length the Horizontal line may be found without the error of many seconds A new kind of Augar for boring the ground and fetching up whatever it meets with in the right order A new Instrument for fetching up any Substance from the bottom of the Sea whether Sand Shels Clay Stones Minerals Metals A new Bucket for examining and fetching up whatever Water is to be found at the bottom of the Sea or at any dept and for bringing it up without mixing with the other Water of the Sea through which it passes Two new wayes of sounding the depth of the Sea without a Line for examining the greatest dept of the Ocean in those parts of it that are most remote from the Land Several Instruments for finding the velocity of swimming Bodies of several Figures and mov'd with divers strengths and for trying what Figures are least apt to be overturn'd in order to the making a true Theory of the Forms of Ships and Boats for all uses An Instrument of great height with Glass-windows on the sides to be fill'd with Water for examining the velocity of Bodies of several Substances Figures and Magnitudes by their descent An Instrument for measuring and dividing the time of their Descent to the accurateness of two or three thirds of time serving also for examining the swiftness of Bodies descending through the Air and of Bodies shot by a Gun or Bow A Bell for diving under water to a great depth wherein a man has continued at a considerable depth under water for half an hour without the least inconvenience Another Instrument for a Diver wherein he may continue long under water and may walk to and fro and make use of his strength and limbs almost as freely as in the Air. A new sort of Spectacles whereby a Diver may see any thing distinctly under Water A new way of conveighing the Air under Water to any Depth for the use of Divers An Instrument for measuring the swiftness and strength of the Wind. An Instrument for the raising a continual stream of Water by turning round a moveable valve within the hollow of a close Cylindrical Barrel Several kinds of Thermometers for discovering the heat and cold of the Air or any other Liquors a Thermometer for examining all the degrees of heat in Flames and Fires made of several Substances as also the degrees of heat requisite to melt Soder Lead Tin Silver Brass Iron Copper Gold A Standard for Cold several wayes An Instrument for planting of Corn. Four several sorts of Hygroscopes made with several Substances for discovering the drowth and moisture of the Air. Several kinds of ways to examine the goodness and badness of Waters Several Engines for finding and determining the force of Gun-powder by Weights Springs Sliding c. An Instrument for receiving and preserving the force of Gun-powder so as to make it applicable for the performing of any motion desir'd Several Instruments for examining the recoiling true carriage and divers other proprieties of Guns Several kinds of Otocousticons or Instruments to improve the sense of hearing Several Models of Chariots and other Instruments for Progressive Motion A Chariot-way-wiser measuring exactly the length of the way of the Chariot or Coach to which it is apply'd An Instrument for making Screws with great dispatch A way of preserving the most exact impression of a Seal Medal Sculpture and that in a Metal harder than Silver An Instrument for grinding Optick-glasses a double Telescope several excellent Telescopes of divers lengths of six twelve twenty eight thirty six sixty foot long with a convenient Apparatus for the managing of them and several contrivances in them for measuring the Diameters and parts of the Planets and for finding the true position and distance of the small fix'd Stars and Satellites Towards the exactness of all manner of these Optick-glasses the English have got a great advantage of late years by the Art of making Glass finer and more serviceable for Microscopes and Telescopes than that of Venice This Invention was brought into our Country and practis'd here by the care and expence of the Duke of Buckingham whom the Author of these Papers ought to mention with all honour both for his Skill and Zeal in advancing such Experimental Studies of which I am writing and also because it has been by the favour of so great a Patron that I have injoy'd the leisure and convenience of composing this History As soon as they were reduc'd into
with a greazy purple Oyl in great plenty Though as I have found upon tryal that most standing waters and even deep Wells have some small quantity of Salt-peter in them though the face of the Earth if it were not impregnated with this Salt could not produce Vegetables for Salt as the Lord Bacon sayes is the first Rudiment of Life and Nitre is as it were the life of Vegetables Yet to be more sure of it I made Experiment likewise there too and found some little of it in fallows and the Earth which Moles cast up in the Spring Though I say the Air and Water want it not yet is it not there to be had in any proportion answerable to the charge in getting it And though the Earth must necessarily have great quantities thereof generated or infused into it yet in these temperate Countreys of Europe it is no sooner dilated by Rain-water or the Moisture of the Earth but it is immediately applyed to the production or nutriment of some Plant Insect Stone or Mineral so that the Artist will find as little of it here to serve his turn as in the other two Elements The only place therefore where Salt-peter is to be found in these Northern Countries is in Stables Pigeon-houses Cellars Barns Ware-houses or indeed any place which is covered from the Rain which would dissolve it and as I have said make it vegetate as also from the Sun which doth rarifie it and cause it to be exhaled into the Air For the same reason Husbandmen also might make double or treble the profit they usually do of their Muck if they would lay it up under a Hovel or some covered place until they carry it out upon their Land And I have been told by an experienced Workman that no place yields Peter so plentifully as the Earth in Churches were it not an impiety to disturb the Ashes of our Ancestours in that sacred Depository Provided alwayes that the Earth be of good mould and the better the mould is the more Peter is produc'd for in Clay or sandy Earth little or none is to be found The freer ingress the Air hath into a place is still of more advantage so that the Sun be excluded And let the Earth be never so good if it be laid on a brick or boarded floor it will not be so rich in Peter as if it have free communication with the Exhalations of the lower parts of the Earth In any place thus qualified you cannot miss of good quantities of Peter if it have not been drawn out in some years before which a Workman will quickly find after he hath digged the first spadeful of Earth by laying a little of it on the end of his tongue and if it tast bitter he is sure of good store of mineral as they love to call it that is Salt-peter if the Ground be good it continues rich to six or eight foot deep and sometimes but not often to ten After the Salt-peter is extracted if the Earth be laid wet into the same place again it will be twenty years ere any considerable quantity grow there of it but if the Earth be well dryed it will come in twelve or fourteen and if they mingle with the dryed Earth store of Pigeons-dung and mellow Horse-dung and then temper it with Urine as was usual before we were supplied with Peter from India it will be fit to dig again in five or six years He that shall cast Water upon a Ground fit to dig for Peter will only sink the Mineral deeper into the Earth but he that throws Soap-suds on it will quite destroy the Peter as the Workmen have a Tradition and it very well deserves a further Enquiry That Salt-peter and the way of drawing it out of the Earth now in use was a modern Invention is generally concluded by all Authors but whether we owe it to chance or the sagacity of some great Wit is as unknown as the time when it was first discovered It seems to have many years preceeded the Invention of Gunpowder which by the Germans is ascribed to Constantine Autlitzer or Berthold Schwertz a Monk of Friburgh and was in all probability not long discovered when the Inventor as Polydore Virgil tells us taught the use of Guns to the Venetians at the Battel of Fossa Claudia when they obtain'd that notable Victory over the Genoueses Anno 1380. For there is mention made both of Salt-peter and Aqua fortis in the Writings of Geber a Spanish More and an Alchymist but at what time he lived is unknown though it be certain some hundreds of years before Raimund Lully who about the year 1333. published some of his Books wherein he treats of Salt-peter and Aqua fortis It is no ill conjecture of Maierus that the foresaid Monk being a skilful Alchymist had a design to draw a higher Spirit from Peter than the common Aqua fortis and that he might better open the body of Peter he ground it with Sulphur and Charcoal by which Composure he soon became the Inventour of Gun-powder The manner of making SALT-PETER IN the first place you must be provided of eight or ten Tubs so large that they may be able to contain about ten Barrows full of Earth each of them These Tubs must be all open at the top but in the bottom of every one of them you must make a hole near to that side you intend to place outermost which hole you must fit very well with a Tap and Spigot on the outside downward On the inside of the Tub near the tap-hole you must carefully place a large wad of straw and upon that a short piece of board which is all to keep the earth from stopping up the tap-hole When you have placed your Tubs on their stands at such a distance one from the other that you may come with ease between them then fill them up with such Peter-earth as you have chosen for your work leaving only void about a spans breadth between the Earth and the edge of the Tub then lay on the top of the Earth in each Tub as near as you can to the middle a rundle of Wicker like the bottom of a Basket and about a foot in diameter and by it stick into the earth a good strong Cudgel which must be thrust pretty near the bottom the Wicker is to keep the Water when it is poured on from hollowing and disordering the Earth and the Cudgel is to be stirred about to give the Water ingress to the Earth upon occasion Then pour on your Earth common cold Water till it stand a hands breadth over the Earth When it hath stood eight or ten hours loosen the Spigots and let the Water rather dribble than run into half Tubs which must be set under the taps This Lixivium the Workmen call their Raw-liquor and note that if it come not clear at the first drawing you must pour it on again and after some little time draw it off till
proportion is the mixture about which most of the workmens time and pains is bestowed For first in a Horse-mill with two stones like that with which they grind their Materials at the Glass-house moving upon a Marble bottom which is edged with boards set sloaping that what slips from under the stones may slide back again They grind the Brimstone and Coal each of them apart by themselves as fine as possibly they can then they sift each of them apart by themselves The Brimstone is sifted thorow Tiffany in a Bolting-mill such as the Bakers use for wheat-flower The Coal is sifted thorow Lockram in a bag made like a shirt sleeve for the convenience of the Work-man it is done in a close Bin with only two holes for him to put his arms in and shake the bag about Whatsoever of each material is not small enough to sift thorow is brought again to the Mill to be new ground As for the Peter that must in the Copper be dissolved in as much water as will just take it up and then the water must be boyled away till the Peter comes to the thickness of hasty-pudding The reason of this operation is because when the Peter is thus soft the other materials will the easilier incorporate with it and in the next place it will not wear the wooden pestles so much when it comes to the Mill as when it is hard and dry When the Materials are in this readiness they are weighed only the Peter is weighed before it is put to dissolve in the Copper and by proportion are carried to the mingling Trough which is made of boards like a great Chest without a cover being about eight foot long four broad and three foot high The Coal is laid in first the Brimstone next and the Peter at top of all Then two men with shovels stir and mingle them together for an hour and then 't is ready for the Mill. The Powder-mills are seldom made to move with any thing but water The great water-wheel is made like that of an ordinary water-wheel either over-shot or under-shot according to the quantity of water they have to the axis of this wheel a little way within the Mill is fastned a lesser wheel called the Spar-wheel with strong Cogs which in their motion round take hold of the round slaves of another wheel of about the same diameter set a little way above it and fastned to the end of a beam of 15 or 16 foot long laid parallel to the Horizon with an iron gudgeon at the other end of it to facilitate its motion round This beam is called the round beam out of it come a certain number of arms of about nine inches long and three inches broad which in their going round meet with other lesser armes called Tapes coming out of the Pestles for so they call certain small quarters of Timber placed perpendicular to the Horizon about nine foot long and four inches broad they are set in a slight frame to keep them steady by these small arms the Pestles are lifted up about two foot and a half and then let fall into a strong wooden Trough set under them wherein the powder is put to be pounded Every Mill hath two Troughs and about sixteen Pestles every Pestle hath fastned to the lower end of it a round piece of Lignum Vitae of about five inches long and three and a half diameter and into the bottom of the Trough just where the Pestle is to fall is let in another piece of Lignum Vitae of the fashion and bigness of an ordinary Bowl split according to its longest diameter The Pestles are not lifted up all together but alternatively to make the Powder turn the better in the working and for the same reason round Troughs are counted better than square To make excellent Powder it ought to be wrought thus thirty hours but of late they will not afford it above eighteen or twenty hours once in eight hours they use to moisten the Powder with a little fair water others who are more curious put water something thickned with quick-lime others use White-wine Vinegar others Aqua-vitae But if it be not moistned with something once in eight hours the Powder will grow dry and in half an hour after it will take fire As soon as the Powder grows dry you may find it though at a distance by the noise of the Mill for then the Pestles will rebound from the bottom of the Trough and make a double stroak The only danger to the Mill is not from the Trough for many times the iron Gudgeons grow hot for want of greasing and then the dust that flies about will be apt to fire and so the Mill blows up From the Mill the Powder is brought to the Corning-house of a middle temper between moist and dry The way of corning it is with two hair Sieves joyn'd together the upper Sieve inclosing some part of the hoop of the lower Sieve The upper Sieve hath holes of the size you will have the Powder grained at the holes of the lower Sieve are much lesser The upper Sieve they call their corning Sieve the lower their wet Duster They lay the Powder upon the upper Sieve some two inches thick upon that a piece of heavy wood made like a Trencher of about eight inches diameter and two and a half in thickness called a Runner which when the Sieve is moved by its weight and motion forces the Powder thorow the upper Sieve and that corns it Then the lower Sieve receives the Powder and lets the dust go thorow into a Bin over which the Sieve is shaken called the Dusting-Bin When the Powder is thus corned it is laid about an inch and half thick on the drying Sieves which are made of course Canvase fastned to slight frames of Deal about an ell long and some twenty inches broad and thus it is carried into Stoves to dry The Stove is commonly a little Room about eighteen or twenty foot square with ranges of small Firr poles about two foot one above another to lay the drying Sieves upon but only on that side the fire is made Besides a glass window to give light there must be a small lover hole at the top of the Room to let out the steam else the Powder will not only be the longer a drying but often by the return of the steam on the Sieves the top of the Powder will be so crusted that the lower part will not dry The Rome is heated by an Iron of about a yard high and half a yard broad cast in the form of an Arch equal to a Semy-quadrant and placed in the back of a Chimney the fore part whereof is like a Furnace and to avoid danger opens into another little Room apart called the Stoke-hole The Powder is brought into the Stove before it be heated and is not taken out again till the Stove be cold and about eight hours is required to the drying of it In
superinduced upon any kind of Material as Wool Linnen Hair Feathers Cotton or Silk And with what Advantages or Disadvantages of Lasting Brightness Cheapness and Variety c. each may be performed But this being infinite and almost unteachable by words as being incomparably more difficult than how to imitate and compose any Colour assigned out of the few usually furnishing a Painters-palat I leave the whole to the further consideration of this Learned Society THE HISTORY Of the Generation and Ordering of GREEN-OYSTERS Commonly called Colchester-Oysters IN the Month of May the Oysters cast their Spaun which the Dredgers call their Spat it is like to a drop of Candle and about the bigness of a half-penny The Spat cleaves to Stones old Oyster-shells pieces of Wood and such like things at the bottom of the Sea which they call Cultch 'T is probably conjectured that the Spat in twenty four hours begins to have a Shell In the Month of May the Dredgers by the Law of the Admiralty Court have liberty to catch all manner of Oysters of what size soever When they have taken them with a knife they gently raise the small brood from the Cultch and then they throw the Cultch in again to preserve the ground for the future unless they be so newly Spat that they cannot be safely severed from the Cultch in that case they are permitted to take the stone or shell c. that the Spat is upon one Shell having many times 20 Spats After the Month of May it is Felony to carry away the Cultch and punishable to take any other Oysters unless it be those of size that is to say about the bigness of an half Crown piece or when the two shells being shut a fair shilling will rattle between them The places where these Oysters are chiefly catcht are called the Pont-Burnham Malden and Colne-Waters the latter taking its name from the River of Colne which passeth by Colne-Chester gives the name to that Town and runs into a Creek of the Sea at a place called the Hythe being the Suburbs of the Town This Brood and other Oysters they carry to Creeks of the Sea at Brickel-Sea Mersey Langno Fringrego Wivenbo Tolesbury and Salt-coase and there throw them into the Channel which they call their Beds or Layers where they grow and fatten and in two or three years the smallest Brood will be Oysters of the size aforesaid Those Oysters which they would have green they put into Pits about three foot deep in the Salt-Marshes which are overflowed only at Spring-tides to which they have Sluces and let out the salt-Salt-water until it is about a foot and half deep These Pits from some quality in the Soil cooperating with the heat of the Sun will become green and communicate their colour to the Oysters that are put into them in four or five days though they commonly let them continue there six Weeks or two Months in which time they will be of a dark green To prove that the Sun operates in the greening Tolesbury Pits will green only in Summer but that the Earth hath the greater power Brickel-sea Pits green both Winter and Summer and for a further proof a Pit within a foot of a greening Pit will not green and those that did green very well will in time lose their quality The Oysters when the Tide comes in lie with their hollow shell downwards and when it goes out they turn on the other side they remove not from their place unless in cold weather to cover themselves in the Ouse The reason of the scarcity of Oysters and consequently of their dearness is because they are of late years bought up by the Dutch There are great penalties by the Admiralty-Court laid upon those that fish out of those grounds which the Court appoints or that destroy the Cultch or that take any Oysters that are not of size or that do not tread under their feet or throw upon the shore a Fish which they call a Five-finger resembling a Spur-rowel because that Fish gets into the Oysters when they gape and sucks them out The reason why such a penalty is set upon any that shall destroy the Cultch is because they find that if that be taken away the Ouse will increase and then Muscles and Cockles will breed there and destroy the Oysters they having not whereon to stick their Spat The Oysters are sick after they have Spat but in Iune and Iuly they begin to mend and in August they are perfectly well The Male Oyster is black-sick having a black substance in the Fin the Female white-sick as they term it having a milky substance in the Fin. They are salt in the Pits salter in the Layers but saltest at Sea In Composing Histories after this manner they resolve to proceed till they have not only obtain'd an Account of all the Great and most substantial Trades but also of all the less Works and Private Productions which are confin'd to some particular Soyls or Corporations or Families As this Stock shall increase they purpose to make it of General use either by continual Printing the most remarkable of them or by freely exposing them to the view of all that desire such Informations provided that at the same time they receive some they will also Communicate others And they have assured grounds of confidence that when this attempt shall be compleated it will be found to bring innumerable benefits to all practical Arts When all the secrets of Manufactures shall be so discover'd their Materials describ'd their Instruments figur'd their Products represented It will soon be determin'd how far they themselves may be promoted and what new consequences may thence be deduc'd Hereby we shall see whether all the parts of the most obvious Crafts have been brought to perfection and whether they may not assist each other more than has been hitherto indeavour'd Hereby we shall discern the compass the power the changes the degrees the ages of them all and speedily understand whether their effects have been large enough and the wayes of producing them sufficiently compendious In short by this help the worst Artificers will be well instructed by considering the Methods and Tools of the best And the greatest Inventors will be exceedingly inlighten'd because they will have in their view the labours of many men many places and many times wherewith to compare their own This is the surest and most effectual means to inlarge the Invention whose Nature is such that it is apt to increase not only by mens beholding the Works of greater but of equal nay of less Wits than themselves In the whole progress of this Narration I have been cautious to forbear Commending the labours of any Private Fellows of the Society For this I need not make any Apology to them seeing it would have been an inconsiderable Honour to be prais'd by so mean a Writer But now I must break this Law in the particular case of Dr. Christopher Wren For doing so